Nurse pleads innocent in molestation case

SAN DIEGO - A male nurse accused of fondling two male patients
at different hospitals while they were medically incapacitated
pleaded innocent Thursday to four counts of sexual battery.

Julius Villareal, 32, of Chula Vista, faces seven years in
prison if convicted, said Deputy Attorney General David Songco.

The prosecutor told Judge David Szumowski that Villareal was
fired from his job at Sharp Coronado Hospital after he allegedly
masturbated in front of a sick man he gave a sponge bath to in
September 2003.

Villareal offered to perform oral sex on the patient, but the
patient told the defendant he was sick and had a high fever,
according to an affidavit filed in support of an arrest
warrant.

Last June 8, at Kaiser Hospital in San Diego, Villareal
allegedly fondled the genitals of a male patient who had just come
out of surgery, Songco said.

The patient complained to a nurse supervisor and the defendant
was fired the next day, according to the affidavit.

Songco said three male patients complained about Villareal
fondling them at Scripps Hospital in Encinitas in 1996.

One of the patients reported the sexual assault to his wife, who
reported it to the hospital, and Villareal was fired, according to
the affidavit.

All the alleged victims were in their mid-30s, Songco said
outside court.

Villareal was working as a licensed vocational nurse at an
aftercare facility in Hillcrest when he was arrested Tuesday,
Songco said.

Szumowski set the defendant's bail at $100,000 and ordered him
to tell any future employer of the charges against him before
taking a job.

"Whoever hires you is to know about these charges," the judge
told the defendant.

A bail review hearing is set for Tuesday and a readiness
conference for Jan. 31. A preliminary hearing is on calendar for
Feb. 2.

Songco asked anyone who may have been victimized by Villareal to
call the attorney general's office at (619) 688-6475.

That office handled the complaint because it came into the state
Department of Health Services.